Bugger. Yet another home defeat and once again the breaks don't come for us at Sixfields.
Having checked my train times on Friday, it looked like I was going to have to make six train changes because of engineering works. But when I arrived at the station at the silly time of 7am and asked a member of staff, it tuened out that I could use my ticket to go through Coventry to Northampton, thus avoiding the cerfuffle of London. It also meant that I could have had another couple of hours in bed!
Never mind, off I went and I found myself drifting in and out of sleep on the train, waking one time to find that a man had come onto the train and brought all his worldy belongings with him. Suitcases, bags, suspect packages, a laptop...this guy took up all the room around us and in the walkway as well. So when he left to go and get some food from the train's shop and our train stopped, there was a lot of angtry passengers passing by my seat and thinking that all that stuff was mine. I got about 27 dirty looks and tried to explain that the luggage wasn't mine but the angry British public were having none of it. Yes, I was public enemy number one until the guy came back and took his seat which seemed like an hour!I wouldn't have liked to have been him when he tried to get off the train.
I got to Northampton at around 10:30 and thanks to Mum's cooked breakfast I was woke up and ready to go.
I find myself getting just as excited and nervous for a home game in September as I do for a playoff game or a game late in a season. The nerves were more than likeky down to our shocking home form while the excitement is part and parcel of any Cobblers game at the moment. We have no idea what's going to happen.
What did happen was it pissed down with rain before the game and the Cobblers struggled again at Sixfields. Vale were nothing special but we looked cautious, not wanting to get an attack going in fear of being caught out at the back like what had happened in previous home games. The inevitable breakthrough came on ten minutes as Vale scored- a free header from a corner, knocked in by George Pilkington. We had no answer and no real spark to our play. Stefan Moore made it worse on the half hour mark, rattling the ball home from the edge of the area.
2-0 down at half time at Sixfields. Not a good palce to be. The second half was a mix of frustration and the ball not dropping for us. Vale were happy to let us attack and although Jerome Watt brought some life to our attack, we couldn't make it through. Scotty hit the post with a downward header late on but that was the closest we came and a moment that summed the game up.
So full time and another home defeat to a Port Vale side who didn't look too great themselves. I picked up my tickets for Bournemouth after the game and despite this result I'm looking forward to it and to making a short trip to a game for once!
It was a long journey home. As the rain teamed down on the train, I caught up with sleep again but luckily this time the train was a bit more empty! The journey really did drag on and it's true that journeys home after a defeat seem to take so much more time!
I finally got home at about 10pm and was absolutely shattered!
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